Ring in the new year with something bold and beautiful at San Diego's last art house cinema — the Chinese film "Resurrection," opening today at Digital Gym Cinema.
Chinese filmmaker Bi Gan is not for anyone who’s in a rush or needs everything explained by the final fadeout. He makes films for people who are in love with cinema — films that ask you to surrender to while drinking in their intoxicating imagery. His latest, "Resurrection," had its West Coast premiere at the San Diego Asian Film Festival (SDAFF) in November.
I missed seeing the film at the festival and sadly had to watch an online screener for this review. But I will be at Digital Gym tonight to experience it properly on the big screen. Even on a home screen, its power is undeniable. I have SDAFF and its artistic director, Brian Hu, to thank for introducing me to Bi in 2018 with the film "Long Day's Journey Into Night."
Bi's gorgeously seductive film was an invitation to luxuriate in its rapturous imagery, like sinking into a scented bath on a warm night. So the arrival of Bi's third feature was something to anticipate.
The trailer for the film opens with the question, "What can one person do that two cannot?" The answer is: dream. And there is no better terrain for Bi to explore than dreams.
In a video from distributor Janus Films, Bi said: "Because cinema is a medium very close to dreams, only when the audience looks past the form, can cinema give them the core experience of being truly shaken and moved. Cinema is like a magician. Everything is an illusion. Everything is technique. But for a magician, what matters most isn’t the showy tricks. What matters most is that, in the end, it affects the audience."
And it does in his latest film, "Resurrection."
We are presented with a world where people have stopped dreaming to obtain immortality. But there are those who continue to dream and embrace mortality. These beings are referred to as Deliriants, and they travel through history, warping the fabric of time.
The film opens with a woman finding one particular Deliriant existing within the forgotten medium of film. This opening segment plays out like a silent film, with no dialogue and no title cards to explain what is transpiring. If "Resurrection" consisted only of this segment, it would still make my top 10 films of 2025. It is a sequence of such beauty, inventiveness, and love for cinema that it feels irresistible.
But the film is far more than a single vignette. It serves up five dreams, each defined by a different sense and cinematic style. Because Bi ties the Deliriant directly to the medium of film, "Resurrection" becomes a gorgeous homage to the cinema's power.
As in his previous film "Long Day’s Journey Into Night," Bi once again orchestrates a stunning extended single shot to mesmerize viewers while weaving the threads of the story into a final surge of bittersweet emotion. He is a cinematic magician, but all his sleights of hand are in service of telling a story that touches us deeply.
"Resurrection" asks questions that it has no intention of answering and offers no conventional linear plot. Instead, it explores what makes us human, asking whether humanity can survive without dreams or imagination. "Resurrection" is simply cinema at its most breathtaking. Please enjoy it on the big screen.
Please note: Tonight's 7 p.m. screening of "Resurrection" at Digital Gym Cinema is sold out. The film has additional screenings through Thursday.
